Responses

http://allisonbojarski.tumblr.com Allison Bojarski

Since signing up yesterday to participate in FGB4 on 9/26, I’ve already raised $60! It’s definitely not too late for all of us to take part. It costs you nothing but your time and effort (and blood, sweat, and tears on 9/26) and you can ask your friends to donate as little or as much as they can afford to.
If anyone has questions/concerns/confusion, please post to comments and we’ll figure it out.

mike

What happened to the 6am wednesday class, all of a sudden it disappeared? There was talk of it going away but no official announcement then bam, its gone.

Hari

Mike,
It was announced several times on the blog, and Jacinto announced it during the 6:00 AM Class for the last few weeks that we ran a 6:00 AM Class.

Mike K

As many more Mike’s have joined CFNYC lately, I guess I should start differentiating myself when I post.
Anyway, I’m in for FGB4. Just signed up.

Alexei

Hari, about your article:
Sex slave trade is a serious problem. Although it is more prevalent in the US-funded ex-USSR countries, it sadly touches Russia from time to time as well, and you’re not going to put any kind of significant dent in it by shutting down ACORN, whatever it is. If it was REALLY involved in any way in sex slave trade it would have long been shut down by the FBI… especially on the scale that the video alleges it is involved in…
Real criminals just aren’t that blatant.
As far as the videos which were provided by that website…
From the Acorn website:
“(San Bernardino, CA) — Today the videographer James O’Keefe’s hidden camera “interview” with San Bernardino ACORN organizer Tresa Kaelke, airing repeatedly on Fox “News”, including the Glenn Beck show, and on BigGovernment.com, has been caught out in an obvious set of lies and manipulations.When the actors approached Ms. Kaelke with their provocative costuming and outlandish scenario, she could not take them seriously. So she met their outrageousness with her own personal style of outrageousness. She matched their false scenario with her own false scenarios.”They were not believable”, said Ms. Kaelke of the two …”http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12439&tx_ttnewstt_news=22583&tx_ttnewsbackPid=12387&cHash=f1e6ffcdd4
Honestly, I’m inclined to believe them… a politician-pimp with a prostitute show up on the doorstep of your organization which deals with basically people borderline below the line of poverty… what would you do?
On a side note, I have no idea who Acorn is, but a quick Google search brings me to the conclusion that they were a thorn in the side of many a Republican (registering 1.7 million voters in population segments likely to vote Democrat and all…)… so don’t expect a right wing pundit to be a credible news source on all things related to them. Most likely this isn’t the first republican effort to shut them down. Most likely for political reasons, unrelated to any factual wrongdoing.
Expect this to be top story on FOX news today: President Obama calls Kanye West a “jackass” while being recorded without knowing that he’s being recorded! Oh the horror! Think of the children!!! http://www.tmz.com/2009/09/15/obama-calls-kanye-a-jackass/

Tim B

CFE this morning. 200,400,600 x 3 rest what you ran it in
good times
Tshirt ideas are great, the bear one made me laugh
hate grey tshirts though, they always feel weird

Jenn Tang

My first CrossFit post!
Tabata Fight Gone Bad: 227 (53#, 10#)
I have no idea if that’s good or not but I was pretty sweaty afterward.
I can’t make FGB4, but I’ll be happy to donate.

Hari

In general, I am happy to have a reasoned exchange on this or any other matter. Unless and until that opportunity presents itself, I’ll wait.

josh rosenfield

“On a side note, I have no idea who Acorn is, but…”
Hahahah! Why are you so quick to come to the defense of a program you have never heard of before?
You infer that US supports the sex trade because we provide aid to countries that it occurs in? You do realize we provide aid to nearly every single country in the world, right?

http://allisonbojarski.tumblr.com Allison Bojarski

Jenn (and anyone else looking to donate), just use the link above in this post to click through and donate. Just type in “CrossFit NYC” as the team name and then pick one of the individuals and donate to that person.
And happy birthdays to Gennady, Edward, and Johnnny Rodz–sorry I left that out of the post earlier but I added it in just now.

http://allisonbojarski.tumblr.com Allison Bojarski

P.S.: If you’ve signed up to participate with us for FGB4, please let us know here in the comments!

Josh, I just found the article interesting. I usually read most of what is posted on here… so I decided to comment. Especially given the highly dubious credibility (in my eyes) of the posted article based on the language it used, and the sheer sensationalism of it all, and my prior (albeit admittedly very limited) involvement with organizations actually trying to combat the sale of sex slaves and other forms of human trafficking.
US government (or the government of any ex-soviet state for that matter) in no way supports sex trade… it chastises countries that engage in it, and the FBI actually tries to curb it, and is actually moderately successful at that, hence why I said that if Acorn really did engage in similar activities they would have been busted already… by the FBI. At the very least, the woman who gave the advice would have been arrested (to the best of my efforts I cannot find anything which suggests this is the case).
To understand what I meant by “US-funded ex-USSR countries” you would have to be more familiar with the delicate political balance in the region (I was actually referring to the countries in the region hit hardest by the economic crisis due to a sharp decrease in foreign funding… which created conditions under which human trafficking becomes more prevalent). It was in no way meant to say anything about the US. It’s just easier to say that instead of listing out Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine etc. Probably a bad way to say it, but it commonly appears in commentary on Russian news sites and some English ones as well (I read the news in two languages daily in order to get a better picture of what is going on in the world)…
Also, it should be noted that the USA does not provide aid to every country in the world. It would be alarming if this country provided aid for Iran, North Korea and Cuba (just three most radical examples off the top of my head). The USA provides aid only when it has interests in the country (not really an outlandish idea if you think about it… would you help your enemies?).

Annie

Can I do Tabata Fight Gone Bad at 8:00 pm :)? Unfortunately it’s very hard for me to get off work before 7pm.

Chris

Alexei, the US actually does provide support to those countries, not directly to the despots but through international organizations like the UN, Red Cross, USAID, Amnesty, faith-based initiatives etc, etc. And your right, our government is pretty pathetic and does nothing to help anyone in need, unless there is some grand conspiratorial corporate ulterior motive, right on brother!

Chris,
Just one example of why your post isn’t quite coherent:
Quoting their website, “USAID is an independent federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State.” It’s interaction with North Korea is very much at the government level. (A point that Alexei should take note of as well).
These “discussions” don’t go very far when people aren’t aware of or interested in the facts.

Ewen

And since we’ve drifted from dirty politics to the topic of international aid, and in keeping with the spirit of FGBIV, here’s my invitation to all of you to join the US Government in supporting the work of UNICEF around the world, including Cuba, North Korean, and Iran.
Thanks!http://inside.unicefusa.org/goto/Ewen_Roth

Hari

Ewen,
“Sex slave trade is a serious problem. Although it is more prevalent in the US-funded ex-USSR countries . . ..”
As you see it, what precisely was the original point and what are the relevant facts in support of that point?
Do you see any way to read this (the opening statement of the comment) and not conclude that the intent is to imply that the US enables or increases the prevalance of sexual slavery through its funding?

Alexei

Chris – not what I meant.
For example, Latvia managed to stay afloat despite a negative trade balance for so long through international credits (I can’t quickly find the origins of which for the life of me…). With the economic crisis, further credits disappeared and it suffered the sharpest economic drop off in Europe.
The USA (thankfully) does not lend money to other nations for the heck of it. Nor does there have to be some power balance involved… humanitarian interests are still interests, after all.

Brett_nyc

Ewen,
I think you might have a computer virus. Nearly 50% of your webpage is unintelligible gibberish. You might want to look into it.

Alexei

On the subject of acorn, I find this to be much more troubling, personally:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/us/politics/24acorn.html?_r=1
30% seems ridiculous…
I’m kind of curious now – what are the statistics for similar organizations for voter registration? Is it a flawed methodology or do Acorn employees just go to graveyards and look for fresh graves?

Justin “Thor”

Annie,
Tabata fight gone bad may be doable at 8 tonight… Really depends on how many people are there and what they want to do. But it probably shouldnt be an issue and we should be able to make it work.

Ewen

Hari,
Apparently you mistook my reply to Chris for a blanket defense of Alexei’s posts. I was merely encouraging everyone to do some quick research before posting. It came off as targeting Chris more than it should have.
Chris,
Nothing personal.
Brett,
I fart in your general direction!

Moon

Nice link, Hari.
I look forward to the followups where the Catholic Church, “crisis pregnancy centers”, and the US Military receive full condemnation as organizations for the actions of a few of their members.
Moon

Moon,
I’ll do even better: I’ll tell you that I consider the leaders of organizations–whether Left or Right, profit or non profit, religious or secular–to be responsible for the actions of their employees.
I believe that “the ultimate responsibility rests with the commander,” whether that commander is a CEO, the US president, the Pope, or the head of ACORN.
Ewen, understood, thanks.

Scott

Newbie here, just finished elements last week. Is it recommended/required that we use the mindbody online site to sign up for WOD classes or does everyone generally just show up? I tried to use it for Sundays class and it did not work so I just showed up anyways. Thanks!

Gabe K

MindBody is like making a reservation for the DMV…
But I’ll let management take that question.
On another note, any interest from CFNYC and those that read the blog for a group buy on competition style kettlebells?
I think Allison’s new one should be a good chance for everyone to see how much better these are, and possibly get a bunch more (bells) in our midst.

James

i, like many others i’m sure, love to drop by the site every day and check out the links. they are almost always related to an active lifestyle, exercise, nutrition, or other topics related to crossfit. even better, these links pull from all over the web and provide a varied a lot of interesting information and perspective.
i don’t know if i’m alone in this, but i find it disheartening that instead of those interesting relevant links, or no links, when fox news has some new juicy headline, it’s consistently posted to the site. i don’t know much about this piece of acorn news, though it sounds like something from an SNL skit. all i know is it sure doesn’t seem to have anything to do with crossfit, fitness, nutrition, health, etc.

Zach Singer

Just signed up for FGB4 with CFNYC. For the record.

Brett_nyc

James, the main site has a tradition of posting articles specifically non-fitness related on the rest days. Lately Hari has been doing the same, obviously with mixed results in terms of the quality of discussion. Check back tomorrow for a return to fitness health stuff.

Gabe K

James,
We all share in a community, which I think is Hari’s/CFNYC’s goal in sparking discussion.
I think “disheartening” is a bit hyperbolic. And Alison pulls links from a variety of places that we all have the ability to follow individually every day.

Adam

I am interested in a group or bulk order of kettlebells

Levi

Gabe,
I might be interested in a group order, depending on what kind of discount I’d be able to get. No promises, though.

Moon

Hari,
So on one hand we have ACORN who had 3 (or maybe less – http://www.newshounds.us/2009/09/16/fox_news_punked_by_acorn.php ) branches wrapped up in this theoretical exercise where no actual crimes occurred. Presumably you would not be against the head of ACORN resigning over this clear failure to lead the organization in a fit and proper manner?
And on the other, we have President Bush as Commander and Chief while the following *actual* incidents occurred http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E6D81030F93AA35754C0A9609C8B63
[Mind you, these are just a few of the recorded incidents in which charges were actually filed (and this list is 3 years old), which is a subset of incidents which were reported, which – as has been made clear via numerous sources – is only a portion of incidents which have gone unreported in any official sense.]
What action(s) do you believe then President Bush should have taken – or had taken against him – because of his clear failure to lead the organization to which he is in charge of in a fit and proper manner?
Just curious as to the depth and consistency of the outrage over such matters as I seem to have missed your rest day links addressing such issues.
Moon

Alexei

Gabe, how deep of a discount are we talking about? Last I checked, kettlebell prices for any KB with any weight to it were in the stratosphere… but if I could get a few for a reasonable price, I’d be down…
Also, for the record, I am not Moon… I can’t express my thoughts nearly as cohesively…

Gabe K

We’d like to try to negotiate a bit more….
But if anyone interested can send me an email with the weight(s) they’d be going for (8/16/20/24/32+kg) and we can start to talk to these people.
We’re shooting for a price around $75 for a 16kg (1pood) bell including shipping/tax. It goes up from there based on size.
That’s about a $20/20% savings on a 16kg, and we’re hoping to save even more on the heavier bells.
kassel01 at gmail dot com

I might be interested in storing my personal collection of bells at the Box since I can’t bring them to Hawaii with me. I have some oddball ones:35#, 45# and 50#.

Hari

Moon,
I’ve been posting Rest Links for about six weeks, during which time George W Bush has not really done anything outrageous enough to catch my attention.
Perhaps it would help if I told you that I enthusiastically agree with this blog post praising a recent action by President Obama (and had actually included this as a second link, but ultimately decided to go with one article per Rest Day):
“Congratulations Mr. President, on a Job Well Done”http://powip.com/2009/09/congratulations-mr-president-on-a-job-well-done/

Mike Mishik

i’m also signed up for FGB,
Diane rx’d 11:13

Chris

Ewen, You read it online, your an expert now! Of Course USAID is a government org, thats no secret, unless you live under a rock. My only point to Alexei, was the US does a lot more to help people than than what he said.

Ewen

Chris,
Your point was muddled and incoherent, since you listed a bunch of unrelated non governmental, governmental and international organizations, all the while saying the US (Governement? Citizens?) didn’t help despots directly, which it obviously does. It’s a controversial but often essential aspect of US foreign policy and international relations.
You don’t sound qualified to judge how much of an expert I am or not in these matters. Next time you want to make a simple point, keep it simple.